leaders, including vice president joe biden, have charged that president bashar assad's government used deadly chemical weapons near da has cuts last week. u.n. inspectors have not said whether they've reached that conclusion. now a discussion on egypt's political future and its relationship with the united states. speakers include middle east analyst and former state department officials from the project on middle east democracies, the atlantic council and the brookings institution. monica coleman was the host for this hourlong national press club newsmakers event. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning. welcome to the national press club's newsmaker event on crisis this egypt. before we get started, i'd like to go over a few housekeeping rules. first, again, if you haven't already silenced your phone and other electronic devices, could you leads do so at this time. also this is a press conference-type forum. it will be approximately an hour. each speaker will talk for 5-10 minutes, and then there will be a q&a. q&as are limited to members of the credentialed press and members of th